Mahanadi streamflow: climate change impact assessment and adaptive strategies

Abstract

Impacts of climate change on hydrology are assessed by downscaling large scale General Circulation Model (GCM) outputs of climate variables to local scale hydrologic variables. This modeling approach is characterized by uncertainties resulting from the use of different models, different scenarios, etc. Modeling uncertainty in climate change impact assessment includes assigning weights to GCMs and scenarios, based on their performances and providing weighted mean projection for the future. This projection is further used for water resources planning and adaptation to combat the adverse impacts of climate change. The present article summarizes the recent published work of the authors on uncertainty modeling and development of adaptation strategies to climate change for the Mahanadi river in India.